Friendly matches
Friendly matches usually take place before the start of the season during the recruitment phase. They are exhibition-only matches as a demonstration for new players, and for general fun. Star Player Points gained, injuries incurred, or other achievements during the match are not applied to player records. Season I There were at least two friendly matches before the start of Season I. Teams involved included the Shadow Dancers, the Cretaceous Crushers and The Bloody Bite. Season II There was one pre-season friendly before Season II, between cup winners the Red Sabres and the highest-placed Season I team still active, the Styx Rivermen. This was the last time a full-strength Styx Rivermen team was defeated. Report by Crow The defending cup champion Sabres today took on cross-division powerhouse the Styx Rivermen today, in a friendly match which may well turn out to be a playoff preview later this year if things go well for both teams. Unlike their last meeting though, the Sabres today managed to stay healthy, and make two scores. The first came via a Fernand Arrow run play, while the second came from an impromptu scoop and run by team basher Fredo D. Stefani. Meanwhile, Styx thro-ra Tom Gravy scored once, but was not able to carry a Styx team that could only seem to push, and not punch; a condition that not even the Rivermen's hired mercenary could remedy. The Sabres, unused to spending the game on their feet against the Rivermen, capitalized by swarming the ball, and preventing an equalizing touchdown late in the second half to secure victory. Season III There was one pre-season friendly before Season III. The cup winners of the previous season, the Styx Rivermen, were unavailable, so new team Selene's Seductive Strut took their place against cup finalists Hellbug's Heroes. At the time, this was the widest margin of victory in league history. Report by Crow In what was supposed to be a long-awaited pre-season rematch between the two top teams of last season, Hellbug's Heroes were slated to take on the mighty Styx Rivermen. However, with the Rivermen out of action for the coming season, a hasty replacement was found, in Crow's new team, the plucky goblins and skaven of Selene's Seductive Strut. After spending the majority of their mighty inducement check, the underworlders kicked off, for the first and what would prove only, real drive of the match. Beastman Flush took up the ball, and in a powerful display of blocking prowess, it didn't take long for the Heroes to clear him a path. Not much later, he was in the endzone, and the Heroes were up 1-0. Triple-S then set to receive, and though having planned to be running the ball for the underworlders, both throwers were lined up on the line of scrimmage for some reason. This worked as well as could be expected as stormvermin Stinger attempted to move the ball. In no time, the Heroes had capitalized on this craziness, and were in the endzone once more. This would occur two more times, to give the Heroes an (not so) amazing 4-0 victory over Triple-S. Of note, is Heroes beastman Trush, who in addition to a defensive touchdown, racked up a very impressive three casualties in the match! When asked to comment on his team's performance, team owner Crow had this to say: "I don't know what our throwers were doing on the line of scrimmage. As you can imagine, I am a bit pissed off, but I don't think it would have mattered much today." Season IV There were two pre-season friendlies before Season IV. As in Season III, the cup winners from the previous season had disbanded, so opponents were selected on the basis of dramatic matchups. The first match was noted by Crow to be a "friendly" only in name, "because there is truly no love lost between the two participants". The second set the new teams of two veteran Division A coaches against each other. Report by Crow : In a matchup between Division B veterans in preparation for Season IV, the Sabres were shining, while the Johnnies looked unseasonably flat. As soon as the Johnnies received the first kickoff, it became apparent that the Sabres defense was coming into this match on the same high that they left off on last season. Meanwhile Tree(wo)man Bloomberg was unable to stop the Sabres by herself. Elf Thrower John T. Partí had no chance to get away before he was dropped by a Sabres defender, deep in his own territory. Sabres veteran blitzer Mal D. Nie, then scooped up the ball for an easy touchdown. The Sabres would repeat the feat on the following drive, as the half was capped off by Sabres thrower Fernand O.E. Arrow taking up the ball after another Johnnies ballcarrier got smashed. Fernand hucked the ball upfield into the hands of human catcher Ferr N.S. 'Pudge' Kash for the match's only passing touchdown. : Heading into the half in a deep hole, the Johnnies proved able to halt a Sabres drive, but lacked the power to keep on the heat. The Sabres moved it in for another touchdown, to go up 3-0. On the Johnnys' following possession, the wood elves' inneffectual protection broke down again as star wardancer Jumpy 'The Fast' Longears tried to move the ball on the ground. Once again, Mal D. Nie was there to capitalize on the elves' woes, for his second score of the match. The final score illustrates the complete dominance that the Sabres exercised over the Johnnies in this match. Too bad it isn't a feat that they have been able to replicate when it counts! Report by Crow : This matchup pitted two coaches against one another, both facing their own former players in what turned out to be a tight defensive struggle. Led by a front line that combined for two casualties and six KO's, Beyond Entropy stonewalled Feets Reloaded all day. On a short kickoff by Kowen, Entropy marauderess Alkalurops took up the ball as Dyrac couldn't get to the ball in time. A long drive followed, in which the Feets defense was manhandled, but managed to hang on. : We wouldn't see the first score of the match until half way through the second half, when the Feets, making slow progress, and badly suffering from attrition at this point, lost the ball in Entropy territory. Marauderess Aspidiske was nearby, and took the ball, weaving through a depleted Feets defense to score the touchdown, which turned out to be the game winner. Season V There have so far been two pre-season friendlies before the start of Season V. Report by Crow : The first friendly match of the season saw two veteran coaches facing off at the helm of their new teams. The Anlec Razors and Talabheim Eagles, of Aedilred and TheTyrantis respectively took the field at the newly revovated 'Bad Wreck'! The humans received first, and 'The Ballista' Armbuster fielded the ball with little difficulty. Making slow progress against the speedy dark elf defense, things went south for the Eagles as a pair of injuries thinned their offense. This gave the elves room to get in and take down Armbuster, recovering the ball for themselves. Sir Dougal DuJardin took the ball and had little difficulty negating Armbusters gains, taking the ball all the way back for the first touchdown of the match. : After an abbreviated Eagles drive, the half ended, and the Razors received for the second half. Dark elf runner Tony Hesperaxian fielded the ball, and the Eagles' defense depleted by casualties and a KO gave a valiant effort. In the end, they were able to slow, but not stop the veteran, and Hesperaxian strolled in after a full field switch, to the Razors' second touchdown. The Eagles received the following kickoff with one last chance to score. Still hurting, the eagles gave the high kick to 'The Ballista' again. The speedy dark elf defense wall all over him though, backing the human offense deep into their own territory. That is when the human thrower cut loose with a pass to clear the ball. Unfortunately, the ball was off-target, but Konrad van der Veen was there to recover. Making slow progress against the elves, his possession was cut short by a vicious block that sent the ball bouncing into the hands of dark elf blitzer Tarquin Mandeville. In the open, Tarquin ran for the flat and turned upfield. As the final seconds of the match ticked down, Mandeville found the endzone, capping off a resounding 3-0 victory for the dark elves over the upstart Eagles. Report by Crow : Season V's second pre-season friendly was a matchup of completely different philosophies. On one side, the finesse and speed of the Low-Down Dirty Rats, and on the other the power and toughness of Da Monsters of Da Midden. As the rats kicked off, Da Monsters set to receive, and the ball settled at the feet of orc thrower Wazgor, who picked it up with ease. Though disadvantaged, the fast skaven defense made the going tough for Wazgor, and despite the best efforts of his blockers, the thrower was unable to make much headway against the swarm of rats. His blockers unable to remove all of the rats marking him, Wazgor was clotheslined on a failed dodge and lost the ball. The orcs were able to rally enough protectors to prevent the ball falling into skaven hands, and the most mobile of the orc side, the goblin Skab, managed to sneak in and recover the ball before slipping away (A goblin? A most unusual occurance!). Using his own mobility and the superior blocking ability of his orc teammates, Skab managed his way to the endzone, putting the orcs up 1-0 just before halftime. The rats would then receive, but had little opportunity to even the score before the half. Despite suffering an earlier injury, skaven thrower 'The Rain' was patched up by skaven apothecary Doc Bleedle, and moved the ball well, but just didn't have the time to get into scoring position. : In the second half, 'The Rain' would receive again, and unlike the first half, he was unable to make great movement against a stiff orc defence. For quite some time, the orcs delayed the skaven movement, trying unsuccessfully to wrestle the ball away from the speedy rats. Each time it would appear that 'The Rain' was doomed, a stormvermin would rush to the rescue and free him up, or he would slip away on his own accord against astounding odds. Meanwhile, in between LDR needing to pull back gutter runners to help protect the precarious ballcarrying situation, and the orc defence, Da Monsters' backfield was kept relatively clear. But as time ticked down, the gutter runner Scutter became free in the orc backfield and 'The Rain' saw his chance. Cutting the cheese with a long, but accurate pass, 'The Rain' connected with Scutter, and the gutter runner sprinted for the tying score! With not nearly enough time to retake the lead, the orcs took a knee after the kickoff and had to be content with the draw. Season VI There were two pre-season friendlies before the start of Season VI. : In the first friendly match leading into Season 6, veteran teams Anlec Razors and Selene's Seductive Strut met to warm up the pitch early. The underworld of Triple-S were the first to receive, but the dark elves would be first to draw first blood. As underworld thrower Pazz Thubbuck was fielding the ball, dark elf lineman Hugh Darcy laid a leveling blow onto linerat Seven Toes, a blow that in any other match would have killed the rat. Pazz was not intimidated however, and with strong blocking from his team was able to make a long running play to put his team on the board first. The dark elves would receive next, and the Triple-S blocking game was still going strong as backup runner Edwin Oril handled the ball. Oril was quickly surrounded, but managed to dump off the ball before being overcome. Rookie blitzer Aloysues de Belfort caught the pass, but was also taken down soon after, effectively ending the drive at the half. : In the second half, offensive player of the year Tony Hesperaxian received the kickoff, and though the drive was hard-fought, managed to elude defenders and bolt away for the equalizing touchdown. The underworld then received again, and Pazz Thubbuck covered the ball. Meanwhile the dark elves had blown a hole through the nearside wing, and flooded in around Pazz. It wasn't long until Pazz fumbled the ball in a desperate attempt to clear it away via a pass, and Tony Hesperaxian made his presence felt again as he recovered the ball. The two Triple-S blitzers did their best to hold back Hesperaxian until help could arrive, but it never did. The elves were flattening the underworld players all over the pitch. Outnumbered, the underworld blitzers succumbed, giving Tony a clear path the the endzone. He delivered the winning touchdown, securing victory for the Razors. The result sheds light on what could be a promising season for the ground-pounding offensive powerhouse. For Triple-S, the defeat shows that the underworld throwers have a lot to work to do if they aim to replace offensive maestro Diggles "Dirk" Bouldercod (who left the team for free agency). http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18688088&postcount=37 : In the second pre-season friendly of Season VI, the necromantics of The Shadow faced the rookie wood elves of Brillanté. Winning the toss, the necros elected to receive the first kickoff. Werewolf Fenrir fielded the kick, and with the support of a seasoned blocking staff the necros were never under threat of losing the ball. After a fanciful ground drive, Fenrir slid into the endzone to give The Shadow the first touchdown of the match. Brillanté were ready to strike back though. As they received the kick, the two wood elf catchers went deep. The necro blocking was still going well however, and two Brillanté elves left the match in short order, including catcher Betty. Salvat was still open though, and Brillanté thrower Wilson launched a beautiful pass which Salvat pulled in without difficulty. A short dash later, Salvat had evened the score for the elves. The next major action would occur in the second half when Brillanté received again. The remaining wood elf catcher Salvat was KO'd early, so Wilson was forced to carry the ball on the ground. This didn't go well however, and the physical lineup of the necros had their way with the elves. Wilson was brought down with ease, and wight F'tagn Daas III came up with the ball in elf territory. The elves were powerless to stop him, and The Shadow again took the lead on the F'htagn touchdown. With one more chance to even the score, the elves lined up to receive again, but Salvat was still unconcious, and a slew of elves KO'd on the last drive compounded the problem. Wilson would need to run again. History repeated itself, and though he made better progress this time, he was eventually brought down. Wight Jan Henryk Dabrowski recovered the ball and made for the endzone, but Brillanté rallied to bring him down. They couldn't secure the ball however, and necro ghoul Thrash swooped in to claim it, seemlessly transitioning to a sprint for the endzone. Thrash scored, locking the victory away, and giving The Shadow a 3-1 victory. References Category:Non-league